Tips for defining and managing stress

Stress can have a huge impact on your heart health and is important to manage properly. Below are ways to define stress and tips to help manage it.

• Stressful relationships at home can increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by more than a third. Relationships are an important barometer of your happiness. If you can't resolve sensitive family issues, consult a counsellor.
• Catastrophic events such as a death or serious illness in the family can cause a surge in stress hormones that temporarily "stun" the heart. Some people develop symptoms such as chest pain and breathlessness that mimic those of a heart attack — and, in some cases, heart failure may occur after a severe emotional trauma. Fortunately, however, any damage to heart muscle is usually reversible.

• A hug is good for your emotional health, and four hugs a day is also one of the ingredients of a happy marriage, according to a survey of 4,000 couples.
• Couples who described themselves as happy or very happy were also likely to share at least two dinner dates and one breakfast in bed every month, as well as taking romantic walks and making romantic gestures.
• Other research has shown that hugs and physical displays of affection such as stroking or holding hands can reduce high blood pressure, speed up recovery from a heart attack, lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reduce the strain on the cardiovascular system caused by stress and anger.

• Stress is also partly responsible for the rise in heart attacks and strokes during the festive season.
• There are two noticeable peaks: Christmas and New Year's Day. It's not just over-indulgence in fatty foods and alcohol that's to blame. Research indicates that the cause is the emotional stress of the winter holidays: dealing with relatives, too much travelling, not enough sleep, the expenses involved and even cooking holiday dinner.

• The companionship of a pet may benefit your health in important ways by reducing stress levels. Studies have shown that pet owners have better than average survival rates following a heart attack, and a lower risk of succumbing to cardiovascular disease in the first place.
• Older people who own pets are generally healthier and happier than those who don't. According to researchers, having a dog does more for your heart than having a cat — dog owners in the study had lower than average blood-cholesterol and blood-pressure readings, possibly because of the extra exercise they get while taking their pets for walks.

• Acute feelings of panic can occur at any time, usually for no clear reason — and they put you at an increased risk of heart disease. British researchers, who found that people under 50 diagnosed with panic attacks or panic disorder were 38 per cent more likely to have a heart attack and 44 per cent more likely to develop heart disease than others. Risks were raised to a lesser extent in people over 50.
• Possible reasons include the effect of intense nervous activity on the heart and blood vessels.In one doctor survey, 8.6 per cent of primary-care patients said they had panic attacks. Overall, about one in ten North Americans gets occasional attacks — twice as many women as men.
• Symptoms include faintness, breathlessness, rapid heartbeat, chest pain, nausea, trembling and dizziness, accompanied by a feeling of deep anxiety or dread.